FIBA’s Top 10 Plays Of The Week

Those complaining that NBA free agency is the only avenue to fill their hoops fix this summer haven’t been paying attention. In the last two weeks all over the globe FIBA, international basketball’s governing body of course, has not only held a tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, to decide the final spots for the Olympic field, but also U17 tournaments with up-and-coming talent in Kaunas, Lithuania. I know that the highlights Kyrie Irving and Blake Griffinpulled off this weekend at Team USA camp in Las Vegas will get more hits, but a roundup of top 10 plays from FIBA’s worldwide hoops in the last week pulls out some nice clips. To the videos.

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10. You can see Macedonia go “uh, oh” when the Dominican Republic (coached by John Calipari) gets on the break. The Macedonians try to foul, and even raise the hand to the ref — nothing works. It all leads to some nice ball movement and a dunk by Al Horford, the one saving grace of the DR squad.

9. Sure it was in vain, but you have to reward the effort for a buzzer-beater. Walid Ely of Egypt beat the clock in this U17 loss to Lithuania from about 30 feet. More impressive in my estimation than the shot, though, was the cross-court pass to get him the rock. Is that an Egyptian Kevin Love throwing outlet passes? Kidding of course. Nice shot, though.